Mavic Crossride Wheelset

wilkij1975

Hi

I am thinking of getting some Mavic Crossrides and just wondered if anyone has them, how good they are, are there any alternatives? I have a limited budget and having seen them on bikes that retail in the high £1000's I thought they would be a good buy.

Any help comments appreciated.

jamesst

i have em and for the price theyre great, not too heavy but not that light either, i think they look great..

toasty

Indeed, I've had a set for ages now and plan to replace them with another set as soon as cash allows. Very stiff and maintenance free for the two or so years mine lasted, there's quite a bit of play in the freehub and bearings now, they keep spinning though.

alfablue

They're good for the price (£129 at Merlin), though £150 gets you black XC717's on XT hubs handbuilt - probably more durable and serviceable. Merlin build very good wheels in my experience.

canada16

I think the 717 will be heavier?

Not sure, but + 1 millions for me on the crossrides.

Mine have went through 10 miles a day commute, then afan and cwmcarn on the weekend, and still true after 2 years. Cleaned them once and greased.

I would buy another pair, but came into some money and getting XT's

ride_whenever

Factory wheels are full of fail, handbuilts are generally much more durable.

If you learn to build them yourself then they are even relatively cheap.

alfablue

canada16 wrote:

I think the 717 will be heavier?

Not sure, but + 1 millions for me on the crossrides.

Mine have went through 10 miles a day commute, then afan and cwmcarn on the weekend, and still true after 2 years. Cleaned them once and greased.

I would buy another pair, but came into some money and getting XT's

Yes I think so (heavier) but maybe only 100g in it. I would be happy with Crossrides, they seem to perform well, but if long term durability is a concern, then 717's (getting replacement spokes for crossrides can be a problem, and if you use your bike on holidays / overseas and are depending on it, easy repair is a distinct bonus).

canada16

ride_whenever wrote:

Factory wheels are full of fail, handbuilts are generally much more durable.

If you learn to build them yourself then they are even relatively cheap.

So what your saying is that If I get merlin to build me a cheap pair of 100.00 wheels they will last longer than lets say XT or crossmax wheels?

So why spend that money to get the factory to make them, as they are handmade in the factory as well, cant see a machine putting spokes in.

But hey this is my first set of wheels, and never had hand built before so could be wrong.

Not being funny just curious.

SDK2007

I have been using a Crossride wheel set for 2 years on my XC bike and they have been excellent and reliable during that time.
For the last year I’ve had the rear wheel on my Enduro SL which has been used for Downhill runs – they are bullet proof. For £130ish they are a no brainer upgrade.

Like you noticed, Scott spec these wheels on their Scale 30 (£1800) and Spark 30 (£2800) bikes.

cat_with_no_tail

Yeh, I have crossrides on mine too. They are fairly lightweight, and roll well too.

HOWEVER, I found a problem with mine that has put me right off them:

One of the tiny spacers on the rear wheel broke, and you can only get a replacement direct from Mavic, who charge £5 carriage, on top of the price of the spacer. My LBS ordered it for me, only to wait an entire week only for Mavic to get back to them and tell them they can not send a single spacer, they have to send the entire axle assembly.
LBS have kindly said they will take the whole axle, take off the spacer for me and keep the rest for spares for future.
This was almost 2 weeks ago and I am STILL waiting for Mavic to get off their asses and send my bloody bits. :evil:

Saving up at the moment and am going to get some XTR wheels as soon as I can. 8)

ride_whenever

Oh whats that, the sound of having to get really specific parts?

And yes, my £100 merlin handbuilt 717 on deore lasted better than a lot of mavic wheelsets, not counting the roadie ones that explode!

ride_whenever

AFAIK, factory wheels aren't handbuilt. They are machinebuilt, apart from some of the very top ones possibly.

solarflash

How do the crossrides compare with Fulcrum Red Metal 5's? Both seem to be around the same price mark.

supersonic

Similar, the Red Metal being lighter and having traditional cup and cone bearings. They were 115 at Merlin - a bargain: now 170 or so which puts Xt with top notch spokes on top rims in range.

Crossrides are good. XT/717 are good. I prefer the latter. However I just buoght a set of Xero Cyprus wheels for 85 quid which compare favourably to crossrides. Beauty is I can tweak them because I know how. This is the advantage of handbuilt sets and a good builder.

toasty

It's not a given that handbuilt will last longer than factory wheels. My Crossrides lasted really well, I've personally broken 2 XT hubs (the new '08/'09 design) and wouldn't go that direction again myself.

I've had bad sets of factory wheels, pretty much any that have come stock on a bike. Crossrides are much higher build quality though, very stiff too. Almost every set of wheels I've owned I've broken spokes on in one way or another, never on the Crossrides though, very sturdy things. Finally every other brand has massively inflated their prices this year, the Crossrides seem to be the one wheelset which has stayed the same.

bomberesque

Mrs B got crossrides specc'd on her yeti. A decent set of wheels.

I rekon you could do better and lighter for the money, and it's clear that Mavic factory wheels demand a premium price over the competition but you certainly won't get a better looking set of wheels at this price. Aero spokes on a 150 quid wheelset? Mavic certainly know how to make a wheel look pretty Beware getting replacement spokes (or, as someone mentioned) any other bits though.

toasty

bomberesque wrote:

I rekon you could do better and lighter for the money, and it's clear that Mavic factory wheels demand a premium price over the competition but you certainly won't get a better looking set of wheels at this price. .

I'm not too sure you'd find both :P Comparing to a custom set for example, even Deore hubs on XC717s is more expensive than a set of Crossrides. Those Xero wheels were £40 cheaper but use plain gauge spokes and come in heavier.

They weigh slightly less than my XT hubs + plain gauge spokes + Sun Equalizer 27s. Both with a similar 19mm internal rim width.

wilkij1975

Cheers for all the suggestions
After speaking to someone at Merlin I think i'll go for the XT hubs XC717 rims. I'm just a bit concerned about the servicability of the Crossrides. Its a shame as they do look a lot better!

alfablue

ride_whenever wrote:

AFAIK, factory wheels aren't handbuilt. They are machinebuilt, apart from some of the very top ones possibly.

I think some are "hand finished", Easton claims their wheels are handbuilt (Easton XC Two wheelset £200), however, I still favour the MAvic/XT handbuilt route due to servicing and availability of parts.

Noclue

I could be wrong but by my calculations a XC717 on XT hubs with DB spokes wheelset is slightly lighter than the crossrides, i've also spent time pondering this as the crossrides look so awesome but i've decided to go with the merlin handbuilt to save the weight and have easy service wheels.

supersonic

Toasty wrote:

bomberesque wrote:

I rekon you could do better and lighter for the money, and it's clear that Mavic factory wheels demand a premium price over the competition but you certainly won't get a better looking set of wheels at this price. .

I'm not too sure you'd find both :P Comparing to a custom set for example, even Deore hubs on XC717s is more expensive than a set of Crossrides. Those Xero wheels were £40 cheaper but use plain gauge spokes and come in heavier.

They weigh slightly less than my XT hubs + plain gauge spokes + Sun Equalizer 27s. Both with a similar 19mm internal rim width.

Many wheelsets with less spokes do have 2mm PG spokes to maintain stiffness.

The main cause of spoke breakage is poor prestressing of the wheel by the builder.

ride_whenever

For my next set of wheels i'm planning DT XR 4.2D in white, silver bladed spokes and while hubs. I'll build them myself and they're going to be mint!

Interestingly it is much easier to build with aero spokes because you can see when they're twisted so it is easier to keep the tension even and makes the pre-stressing easier.

supersonic

You need something to keep the blades straight mind.

Unless CXRay or DT Aerolite, I would just use DB spokes for a 32 spoke build personally.

toasty

Noclue wrote:

I could be wrong but by my calculations a XC717 on XT hubs with DB spokes wheelset is slightly lighter than the crossrides, i've also spent time pondering this as the crossrides look so awesome but i've decided to go with the merlin handbuilt to save the weight and have easy service wheels.

Maybe, but then wouldn't you expect narrower/more expensive wheels to be lighter? I couldn't say either way, adding up claimed weights never works though, I'd guess about 1800g for the 717s, 1900g for the Crossrides?

supersonic

Claimed Crossride weight is 1905g - very good for the money, and 40g lighter than the older one. The V brake version is a scant 1750g, while the centrleock about 1850g I think.

Those old XT hubs are porkers.

toasty

Swings and roundabouts with the centerlock really, 50g lighter hubs, 50g heavier rotors Do love how easy it is swapping rotors with centerlock, I've never liked those torx bolts!

The Spiderman

For the record my Merlin built 6 bolt XT hubs with 717 and ACI db spokes are 1940g the pair.If you specify the 6 bolt from Merlin,it seems you you get the older m756 hubs,which are heavier than the newer centre lock m765 or m775 varieties.So 6 bolt XT hubs with 717s likely to be 40g heavier than Crossrides,xt centre lock the same or a bit lighter.
I prefer the fact that I can easily pull apart the XT hubs,and get a spoke or freehub easily from the LBS,but undoubtedly the Crossrides do look nice and have a good reputation for a budget wheel.

Crossrides probably a better bet if you want to run wider tyres too.

Steve_b77

I have a set of '09 Crossrides on my HT, I've been riding them for 3 months now.

They are superb wheels for the money, they weigh less than stated, mine came in at 1845g's for the front & rear - thats normal 6 bolt disc hubs.

I bought them because I couldn't afford another set of Hope hoops @ £285, they weigh pretty much the same as a set of 4.2D's on Pro II's, have sealed cartridge bearing hubs - better than cup 'n cone IMHO and look rather spangly.

supersonic

They still use adjustable annular bearings though.

wilkij1975

I've had a bit of a change of heart and budget (allowed by the other half) and am now thinking about Hope Hoops with either DT 4.2 or 5.1. I assume these will be much better than the Crossrides but are they hand made oris it worth having someone like Merlin build a set? Also, does anyone know what the best rim would be. I pretty much always do cross country type riding but would like some strong wheels as i'm quite a unit!

supersonic

How much do you weigh, and how extreme do you get?